Brake equalizing device



April 5, 1938. J. c. EAI -IEART BRAKE EQUALIZING DEVICE Filed April 26,1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 5, 193-8.

J. C. EAHEART BRAKE EQUALIZING DEVI CE Filed April 26, 1935 3Sheets-Sheet 2 613.4.

grwc/wtoo J C [Mm/f April 1933- J. c. EAHEAR'f 2,113,342

BRAKE EQUALI ZING DEVICE Filed April 26, 1935 I 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 25 6874 i E i a 60 f6 I f I i m 13 4/ H 66 J5 l 54 A L 4 All l 0 N H M g //43 i I l gwucm JCfakar/ Patented Apr. 5, 1938 2 2,113,342

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BRAKE EQUALIZING DEVICE Joseph C'. Eaheart,Richmond, Va.

Application April 26, 1935, Serial No. 18,443

1 Claim. (Cl. 188-204) This invention relates to equalizers for fouruponits axis in a manner to be described, the wheel brakes. upper end oflever 14 moves forward and the The principal object of the invention isto lower end rearward, thus tensioning the rear provide a device of thiskind in which damage to brakes and the front brakes through theequalizone part of the system will leave either two front er yokes. 5wheel brakes or two rear wheel brakes in opera- In accordance with myinvention, the portion tion. The part of the brake system most subof theshaft Hi to which lever I4 is fastened has ject to damage is thatassociated with the front a positively limited fore-and-aft movement.One wheels. In case of such damage, my brake opway of supporting theshaft for such movement a erating system will act as a simple rear wheelis illustrated in Figs. 28. The left end (Fig. 4) l0 brake mechanism. Incase of damage to the of the shaft I8 is journaled in a forked bearrearwheel brake system, the front wheel brake ing 20 having at its base abolt 22 supported by a mechanism remains operative and equalized as bush24 in an apertured ear 26 (Fig. 3) of a between the two front wheelbrakes. While bracket 28. The lower end of bolt 22 is threaded w frontwheel brakes acting alone are less desirto receive a castellated nut 30.This bearing able than rear wheel brakes acting alone, both are mountedin the manner described permits shaft more desirable than one front andone rear wheel I 8 to tilt in a fore-and-aft direction about its endbrake on only one side acting alone. which is journaled in. the bearing.The opposite A particular object of the invention is to proend of shaftI8 is received in a horizontally vide an equalizing mechanism of compactstruc elongated slot 32 of a vertically extending ear '2 ture adapted tofit within the limited space avail- 34- at the opposite end of bracket28. The shaft able under the modern low-swung car. i8 is provided. onits end with a roller 36 which The invention will be further explainedwith substantially fills the slot 32 in a vertical direcreference toillustrative embodiments shown in tion, but is smaller in diameter thanthe long di- 5 the accompanying drawings, wherein, mension of slot 32.Thus the roller 36 guides Fig. 1 is a plan view of the chassis of anautoshaft l8 for tilting movement in a fone-and-aft mobile showing thelocation and general arrangedirection. In accordance with the invention,this ment of my brake operating mechanism, tilting movement ispositively limited to one of Fig. 2 is an elevation of the left side ofthe short extent. Any suitable abutment device can equalizing mechanismshown in Fig. 1, be used for this purpose, but in the form shown 30 Fig.3 is a fragmentary detail of the supportin the drawings, the ends ofslot 32 serve as the ing bracket, limiting means for the tiltingmovement. In or- Fig. 4 is a rear elevation partly in section of der toexclude dirt from the slot 32, it is covered the equalizing mechanism,on the outside by a plate 4 0 and on the inside by Fig. 5 is a sectionon the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, a plate 42 slotted to allow free movement of35 Fig. 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, shaft I8. The slot ofplate 42 can be covered by Fig. '7 is a section on the line '|-'l ofFig. 4, a cap 44 which moves with the shaft and is held Fig. 8 is anenlarged plan view of the equalizagainst plate 42 by a compressionspring 46.

ing mechanism, and Any suitable means can be applied to the swiv- Fig. 9is a plan view of a modified form of the elled end of shaft [8 to impartthe turning move- 40 equalizing mechanism. ment which tensions the brakemechanism. In

In Fig. 1, the rear wheels of the vehicle are the drawings, an arm 50 isfixed by a hub 52 to shown at 2 and the front wheels at 4, each of shaft[8 between the two parts of the bearing 20. these wheels having aninternal brake (not The upper end of arm 50 is slotted to receive oneshown) adapted to be operated by a crank arm 6. end of a link 54connected to the arm by a pin The crank arms 6 of the rear wheels arecon- 56 and connected at its opposite end by a pin 58 nected by rods 8to a yoke 10 pivoted at its midto the forked end of a second arm 60. Thearm point to a clevis 12, by which it is connected to 60 is fixed. by ahub 62 to a shaft 64 mounted in one end of a lever l4 fixed by a hub IEto a shaft bearings 65 in bracket 28 substantially parallel 0 l8. Thecrank arms 6 of the front wheels are to Shaft l8. Shaft 64 is providedat its opposite 50 connected by rods 9 to a yoke ll pivoted at its endwith a fixed arm 66 connected by a rod 68 midpoint to a clevis l3 bywhich it is connected with a hand brake lever 10. The foot brake to thelower extremity of lever l4. The yoke Ill lever 12 is connected by a rod14 to the upper thus equalizes the rear brakes, and. the yoke ll end ofarm 60. The bracket 28 is secured by bolts 55 the front brakes. When theshaft I8 is turned 16 to a cross piece 18 of the main frame 5 of 55 thechassis. A coiled spring 11 on shaft 64 serves to return the parts totheir normally released positions upon the release of the brake leversand prevents a sticking of the brakes.

The brake mechanism operates in the following manner:

A pull applied to hand brake lever 10 or push applied to pedal I2 actsthrough rod 68 or I4 to turn shaft 64. In either case link 54 is pulledforward and pulls with it the upper end of arm 50, turning shaft l8 uponits axis. Lever I4 is thus turned counterclockwise (Fig. '7) andtensions the front and rear brake mechanisms. The latter will beadjusted by well known means to position the shaft l8 normally at aboutthe middle of slot 32, so that upon being turned to tension the brakemechanism, it will be free to assume a position determined by thebalance of forces between the front and rear brake mechanisms, thusequalizing the front brakes against the rear brakes. Since the frontbrakes are equalized between themselves by yoke l I and the rear brakesby yoke l0, all the brakes will be applied with equal force.

Should one of the rods 9 be broken, the other rod 9 will be released bythe freely swinging yoke I I and the free end of shaft l8 will swingback to the rear end of slot 32. Here it will find a fulcrum about whichlever 14 will turn to apply the rear brakes through equalizer yoke Ill.Damage to the rear brake mechanism will have a similar, but reverseeffect upon the shaft l8, so that the front brake mechanism will remainoperative. Breakage of any one brake rod releases the opposite brake rodat the same end of the vehicle and avoid-s application of more brakingforce to the wheels of one side than to those of the other side.

Another Way of mounting shaft I8 is shown in Fig. 9. Here the shaft isin two sections and 82 coupled by a power transmitting universal joint84. The section 82 is journaled in stationary bearings 86 on the ear 88of bracket 90, this shaft section being best held-to a stationary axis.The

swinging end of shaft section 80 is guided by a roller 36 in a slot 32of the vertical ear 34 of bracket 90, just as in the first modification.Aside from the mounting of the shaft 80, 82, and the fact that itssection 80 tilts about the universal joint 84, there is no differencebetween this form of the invention and the one first described.

It will be noticed that the vertical dimension of the equalizingmechanism is not substantially greater than the minimum heightdetermined by the necessary length of the lever M for tensioning thebrake rods. The mechanism is therefore well adapted to fit into thelimited space available under the modern car. It will also be noticedthat by positioning the shaft 64 somewhat lower than shaft [8, a gain inleverage is secured without increasing the height of the mechanism.

Various modifications can be made without departing from the scope ofthe invention as defined in the claim which follows.

Having described my invention, I claim:

In combination with four-wheel brakes for vehicles, two yokesrespectively equalizing the front pair of brakes and the rear pair ofbrakes, a rock shaft swivelly mounted at one end and supported at itsopposite end to permit limited fore-and-aft swinging movement, a leverfixed to said shaft at a substantial distance from its swivelled end,said lever having arms projecting up and down from said shaft, meansconnecting the ends of said arms respectively to said yokes, a secondshaft parallel to said first shaft, and mounted lower than said firstshaft, parallel arms fixed to and. extending up from said shafts in thesame plane transverse to said shafts, a link connecting said arms andinclined upward from an intermediate point on the arm of said secondshaft to the arm on said first shaft, said arm on said second shaftterminating substantially on a level with the top of the upwardlyextending arm of said lever, and an operating member connected to theupper end of said arm on said second shaft.

JOSEPH C. EAHEART.

